Clockless Components and Relativity
Abstract
It is natural to think that the conceptual frame of electronic asynchronous DI-systems (Delay-Insensitive) is well adapted to the description of distributed systems constituted with mobile components because when components move, distances change and then also delays of propagation. But a closer look at this question shows that it would be interesting to place this study in the frame of relativity theory, even for non-moving components. The main reason is: time-like intervals of this theory have an objective character and introduce a partial time-order which also is objective. It means that this time-order relation can be measured the same by all observers, whatever the propagation speed of signals and whatever the movements of the events emitters and receivers. Moreover these intervals are well adapted to the discussion of the meaning of Udding's rules in term of causality, these rules being one way to define DI-systems. We propose a new formalism based on trace theory in order to deal with this partial order for intervals issued from relativity.
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